Douglas W. Dingman, an experiment station microbiologist, said that about one-third of the human diet relies on bees, either directly or indirectly, for pollination of crops by bees, and that foulbrood, if left unchecked, could leave major segments of the nation's food supply in tatters.

Dingman said that American foulbrood can't be blamed for what's become known as colony collapse disorder, or CCD, a still-mysterious, worldwide phenomenon in which a hive's worker bees fly off, never to be seen again. But he said that the foulbrood bacterium might be a piece of the puzzle.

Many biologists, he said, suspect that CCD is caused by several factors working together, including insecticides, climate change, viral and bacterial diseases, malnutrition and mites.

American foulbrood, which occurs worldwide, is so named because the hive's brood chambers, where the eggs develop into adults, become foul-smelling when the infected larva turn into a gooey mass.

Dingman said that about 10 percent of the registered hives in the state have this level of foulbrood infestation. But another 40 percent, he said, have low levels of bacteria present. These hives with low levels of infection, he said, still suffer "suppressed" health.

When outward signs of foulbrood are found, the hive has to be burned to keep bacteria from spreading. But instances of low-level infection usually persist undetected, and often result in the infection getting transmitted to other hives, owing to the occasional intermingling of bee populations and the bacteria unwittingly being spread by beekeepers.

One treatment that shows promise is a preparation containing hydrogen peroxide, which kills the bacterium's tough endospore, a nearly indestructible dormant form of the organism that can survive for years until favorable conditions allow it to develop into its usual state. This preparation can be used to wash down tools, empty hives, gloves and the like.

"The results look to be promising, but we have a lot more work to do," he said.

One interesting development that has come out of the well-publicized bee troubles is a greater appreciation for the hard-working insects, even to the point of viewing them as "pets."

"Now, when I pull out and put back a beehive frame, the beekeepers tell me, 'No, don't squish my bees,' " Dingman said. "I never used to get that before."

"People today realize the importance that bees have in our society," Kettle said. "Blueberries in Maine. Almonds in California. Even alfalfa for cattle. They all rely on bees."